Let the Hunger Games Begin

"Don't go Alaura, don't leave me." Myra whispered.

"Don't worry, I won't leave you." I took her bloodied hand in mine and squeezed it tight. I tried to fight the tears pouring down my cheeks. I had to stay strong, for Myra's sake.

"I'm afraid, I- I don't want to die." she coughed out, showering me with droplets of blood. She looked up at me, her brown eyes full of fear. I could see she was on the verge of crying herself.

"You're not going to die, I won't let you. Myra listen to me, you have to stay strong okay? We're going to make it through this just keep holding on." but I could see the life slipping from her eyes and her hand went limp. The thought of losing her sent me into a frenzy, "Myra, Myra! You have to hold on, please. You can't leave me here. Don't leave me Myra." she slowly locked eyes with me, and using her last ounces of energy opened her mouth to speak.

"It's over Alaura, you've won." she wheezed. She gave me one last smile before her lids fluttered close.

"NO! NO PLEASE MYRA! You can't leave me here!" I took both shoulders in my hands and shook her, trying to somehow revive her. I refused to believe that she could be dead. After all that we have been through she couldn't just leave me like this, alone in this God forsaken place. But it was all over. I heard the cannon sound its final blast signalling that she was gone.

"CONGRATULATIONS ALUARA SOMMER'S, YOUR ARE DECLARED THE WINNER OF THE 76TH HUNGER GAMES!" The voice of the head game maker blared over the P.A. system as colourful confetti rained down on me from the heavens. In other circumstances I may have been relieved or even happy that I'd survived, but right now those were the last things that were going through my head. The only thing I could think of was that Myra was gone.

Her name sent me into a frenzy all over again. I doubled over on top of her, half sobbing half screaming into her body. I didn't want to accept that she was gone. I knew that both of us couldn't make it out of the arena, but I never thought that she would be the one leaving me here. She was so liked back home, she had tons of friends and family who loved her. Me? I had my parents, and the only other person that I really cared for was her… She was my best friend, my only real friend. And now she's gone. I'll never be able to talk to her again. We'll never stay up late together telling corny jokes, laughing all night with each other. She'll never call me at 3:00 am crying over some guy that broke her heart, or someone who had spread some nasty rumour.

"God, why couldn't it have been me? Why her? Why?" I looked up into the sky, the sun blinding my vision thinking that maybe he could change something. But I knew that there was nothing he, or anyone else could do. Myra was gone forever, it was over.

4 WEEKS EARLIER

"It will be ok, don't worry. Everything will be fine." I looked into my mothers hazel eyes, trying to believe that what she was saying was true. But I knew it wasn't, and she knew it too. But she would try to convince us both of it none the less. I gave her hand a reassuring

squeeze, it was the best I could do. I wanted to tell her that I knew it would all work out somehow but I couldn't bring myself to speak, out of fear that my voice would give away how I actually felt.

And right now, I was terrified.

Weeks ago we were given the news that there would be one final Hunger Games featuring the children of the people who held the most power during the time of the rebellion. Being the granddaughter of President Snow I'm almost certain that I'm going into the games. I'm not yet sure what they're going to do or how they're going to do it since that was the only information we received, well that and the date of the reaping. Since then it felt as though a grim fog had settled over me and my family, my parents have been fighting non-stop and my mother has been in such a state that she's left the house maybe once or twice since we've gotten the news. And I've just been trying to keep it together for both of them. I put on a brave face, pretending that it's no big deal, that I'll be fine but on the inside I've almost given up all and any hope for staying alive. It's not like in the other districts where people have skills in working outdoors, here we don't learn any of that. We just go to school to learn things like the history of Panem, not what type of berries are poisonous or how to build shelters. The only chance I have of staying alive out there is memory of some of the past Hunger games, but thinking back on it couldn't really recall anything off the top of my head.

Then I started thinking about what it would actually be like fighting and killing other children. Just the thought of doing that to someone else sent shivers up my spine. But it made me start to wonder, could I actually kill someone? I'd never had to ask myself that question, and I'd like to think that I could never do something that barbaric but I haven't spent any time in the arena yet. Year after year I've seen kids kill each other mercilessly thinking how I could never do something like that? But the arena changes people, I just hoped that it wouldn't change me.

/Snap out of it!/ I told myself. I couldn't think about that, I was just going to get myself all worked up over something that I didn't need to worry about yet. I looked down at my fingers and could already see that they were starting to shake from the thought. I tried t hide them from my mother, shoving them into the pockets of my brown trousers.

/Just try and think of something else. Anything else would be better than this/

I looked around the square for something that might occupy my mind. I focused on the massive clock that stood in the centre of the square. Only a minute before the reaping would begin. I moved closer to my mother clutching her closer to my side. These might be some of the last moment that I'll have with her and I didn't want them to go to waste. I rested my head on her shoulder and waited for the chime that would mark that it was noon. It seemed that only a few seconds had passed before the bells starting ringing and people starting climbing up on stage.

As soon as President Paylor stepped up to the mic the crowd went silent. I could see her relatively well from where I stood and I understood why she was chosen to be the new president. Everything about her was authoritative. Her mousy brown hair tied back in a slick bun and the lines on her face which gave her a stern look. Even the way she spoke made you feel as though you had to obey.

As she began to explain to us how the reaping will be done this year my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. She explained to us that this year would be the final year that the Hunger games would be held, and the tributes would all be children or grandchildren of the people who held the most power during the time of the rebellion. She then explained that instead of adding our names extra times for tessarae that the amount of times that our names was entered was depending on how much power our relative held. As she said this a huge white screen rose up behind her showing us an image of a blue chart.

"The chart shown behind me shows the name of the child, whether they're a boy or girl and how many times their name was entered, so that you all have an idea what your chances are." the way she said it made it sound almost as though she were doing all of us a favour. But this only made me feel more uneasy because when I looked for my name on the chart I didn't have to look long. I was the very first name, with my name being put in 134 more times than the one directly below me.